During the season eight premiere of NBC’s Last Comic Standing on Thursday night, Roseanne told comedian Ben Kronberg to go f*ck himself. But we can’t look at the moment in a vacuum. Roseanne’s comment came after Kronberg stood onstage for more than 30 seconds without starting his act. Finally Kronberg broke the awkward silence, addressing the Last Comic Standing audience with, “What, like you guys start working right when you get to your jobs?” This lead Roseanne to state the painfully obvious: “I think you wasted a lot of time up there.” Kronberg, quickly swaying his head back-and-forth in mock-sassy style, asked Roseanne, “What did you say?” to which Roseanne shot back, “I said, I think you wasted a lot of time up there.” By the way, the other two judges — Russell Peters and Keenen Ivory Wayans — weren’t pleased with Kronberg, either.

“Ok, I would prefer you started with a compliment, but I’ll take your out-of-the-gate criticism,” Kronberg responded, to which Roseanne said, “Well, you know comedy better than me, I guess. And you’re really arrogant too and it pisses me off.” Kronberg continued to faux-sass Roseanne with “Bring it!” Roseanne explained herself: “You didn’t respect your audience.” Kronberg asks the audiences if they felt that way, to which they overwhelmingly respond in the affirmative. Kronberg then asks the audience if they’re ok with Roseanne speaking for them. The Last Comic Standing audience seemed totally cool with that. And that is when Roseanne let it fly with the whole, ‘go fuck yourself” situation. It’s also worth noting that Kronberg tweeted out, “What #LastComicStanding edited out was @therealroseanne flipping me off as I walked off stage. That was reason for my look at [the] end. [They] also edited out me calling the show a gimmick after they called me a gimmick.” You can watch the scene play out below.

Like a lot of the contestants on this season’s Last Comic Standing, Kronberg is a well respected comedian and very much on the radar of most true comedy nerds. The chances of him ever making it to the finals on a show like Last Comic Standing, however, was pretty slim; Kronberg doesn’t deliver the type of comedy the bulk of mainstream America embraces. Which is why it’s delightful to see Kronberg’s seemingly negative appearance on network television turn into a positive.

Comedian Ari Teman has started the hashtag #GoFuckYourselfBen and it’s going viral. With the likes of veteran comedian Todd Barry and Saturday Night Live‘s Brooks Wheelan contributing to the viral campaign via Twitter, Vine and other social media, Ben Kronberg stands to gain more traction than comedians who were well-received on Last Comic Standing but were not voted into the semi-finals. Check out Todd Barry and Brooks Wheelan’s contributions to #GoFuckYourselfBen below.

What I’m not seeing here is the obvious – The opening line of Bens’ act is stolen. I’ve heard this same line for over 15 years from other comics. That negates any credibility he has with me.

ROSEANNE FUCKER

HEY BITCH ROSEANNE, Actually HE SHOULD FUCK HIMSELF Cause FUCKING YOU ITS LIKE DIPPING A HORSE DICK IN SHIT, First YOU STINK and a HUGE SIZE WONT MAKE A DIFFERENCE AS FAR AS YOU FEELING IT , U DIP SHIT Singing the National Anthem then SPITTING On then SPIT!
Your Fking Lucky you are Raised in USA cause Your Ass in Israel would have Been Grass !! lets SEE YOU SPIT ON ISRAELI FLAG in your STOLEN LAND in front of Your RACE !
BEN WAS NOT FUNNIER CAUSE WHEN HE HAS A LADY CLOWN THAT THE ONLY THING IS NOT STRETCHED BEING YOUR PEA BRAIN SURE IS HELL YOUR LOOKS BEATS HIS JOKES, Now go Chew on what I said MF ! I WOULD SPIT ON YOUR FACE AS YOU DID ON AMERICAN FLAG AS SOON AS I SEE YOU ONE DAY MF LUCKY ASS , U ARE AS FUNNY AS YOUR FACE IS, AND THATS AS FAR AS IT GOES !
LONG LIVE CHRISTIAN GOVERNMENTS AND ITS CHRISTIAN PEOPLE !!
AND WE O N L Y CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS IN AMERICA , HELL WITH YOUR HAPPY HOLIDAYS !!
ITS MERRRRRRRRY CHRISTMAS AND THIS IS A CHRISTIAN COUNTRY !!!!!!!

subnerdo

Woah, time to stop mixing grandpa’s cough medicine with bath salts.
Not a christian country either, there, sport.

First of all, I saw long time road comic / Chicago stand-up stalwart, Steve Seagren – open his act with that bit for years. The “like you start work right away too” opener.

Jessica Hosang

I was in the audience when this was being taped and this man was a joke. We had been there for several hours already by the time he came on so his routine didn’t stand a chance. We all were tired and ready for it to be over. There were many great acts that came on before him. When he just stood there what felt like forever, then finally started his act with his opening line, it just sunk him. It was lame. Eventually he got a couple laughs out of us but then his time was over. So when Roseanne told him he wasted our time, yeah he did. When she told him he was arrogant, yeah he was. When she told him to go f off, we applauded.

Dougie Almeida

Ben’s opening joke is and has been done by countless other comedians. I have seen six different urban comics use that joke as their opener just in the last several months.

Gary Mills

While I haven’t seen it in the last few months, yeah – it seems to be hack, bordering on stock at this point.

subnerdo

If either of you knew Ben, you would realize that they probably ripped him off. He’s pretty damn funny, and incredibly different with his style. Just look at the damned hipster!! He wore elbow patches, for fucks sake!! His jokes are older than our memories can even provide.

Bob

Off his sack please.

Jack

How long has Ben ben doing comedy? That bit originated (I believe) in George Carlin’s “Carlin on Campus” special about 40 years ago. I doubt George ripped it off from Ben. Just sayin’.

Eddie Sanchez

Exactly, I spotted that too.

subnerdo

The greatest thing about Ben doing this, besides being hilarious, is that he brought up the fact, although many didn’t really see it, that Groseanne, also did the exact same thing when she “sang” the National Anthem… Not many people remember it, but it was a direct hit to everyone watching. Apparently, she believes that she is the only person that is allowed this indignity…. She wasted a TON of peoples’ time, and she didn’t give a shit about it. She even grabbed her crotch after the fact. Ben messes with some people and makes them think for a minute and all of a sudden, he’s a fucking outcast. How hypocritical of the slunt…

David Hill

Yeah, but you didn’t see a lot of her for a long time after that. So, it didn’t work out for her quite as well as you think.

subnerdo

Sure we did. Her show kept going on for several years, and now she is a “judge”. Does this mean that he gets to be a judge now? Nope. Coming from a fan of Roseanne, this is pretty shitty of her. Maybe she’s just cranky.

Bob

When did she do that during a showcase set?

When you are famous – you get away with it. No one knows who Ben Kronberg is. He was scared, he crapped the bed, and is trying to flip this when it is only him being self destructive.

Hunter Boyette

Slunt?

subnerdo

slutty cunt…

Hunter Boyette

Ha. I like you.

Hunter Boyette

I kind of like the way he took the criticism. I assumed he was going to be a tool about it, but really Roseanne is the only who has a problem here. She doesn’t need to like everyone, but if you’re a judge in a comedy competition, maybe you shouldn’t roll your eyes just because you’re watching something that’s not necessarily your style. Also, the guy talking over the video for yahoo is really annoying. I can’t be the only one thinking that. Please, someone let me know that I’m not the only one who hates this guy.

subnerdo

I hate the voiceover guy too. Really dumb.

Bob

He took the criticism like a tool. The other judges hated him as well – she just was more vocal about it. I hate the entitlement

If you are going to be a tool about this type of stuff don’t waste everyone’s time – especially now when someone will knocked out on a bus and this will all go away